two-step plan. it slashes $1.2 trillion now, but only extends the debt ceiling six months. an idea the president's rejected in the past. >> this is no way to run the greatest country on earth. >> even fellow republicans are now questioning boehner's approach. >> i would rather not have this vote again in nine months. >> with time running out president obama urged voters to call congress to pressure lawmakers to compromise. >> i'm asking you all to make your voice heard. if you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your member of congress know. >> but a "the washington post" poll shows americans rin creasingly po'd at both sides. roughly the same number of people about 2/3 blame president obama and the gop for policies that are hurting the economy. >> when you're broke you don't take out more credit cards. you don't vote yourself a higher credit limit when you can't pay it.

>> extremism obviously is not right. two parties being so extreme that they can't even talk is just not working. it's a dysfunctional government. >> now's the time where people have to check their egos at the door. >> we begin with kristen welker and luke russert on capitol hill. luke, what kind of response are lawmakers getting today on capitol hill? >> quite a big one, contessa. we can report that earlier this morning the house call center the communication arm of the house in charge of all the house telephones sent out an email to members saying quote, due to the high volume of external calls to the house telephone circuits they are near capacity. some members should be receiving busy signals. several house websites crashed specifically that of speaker of the house john boehner. the question is whether or not it will transfer into some sort of change of what the status quo

is right now and that really is both sides digging in quite rigidly on their plans. democrats supporting harry reid's plan the $2.7 trillion cut across the board. republicans in favor of john boehner's plan, with an extension of the debt limit. that's where both sides are still very much. >> kristen, let's talk with you about where the white house goes from here. can they capitalize on this? the people are willing to go online -- i had trouble getting on the house website today maybe not correlated to how buzzy things are, certainly with the house phones can the white house capitalize on that? >> they're hoping they can. the president addressed the nation last night and a lot of people saying today he didn't really bring up any new points. white house officials are saying look, the president addressed the nation to get in touch with that swath of people have haven't been tuned into this debate every day. if you look at that high volume

of calls and people logging on to house websites that luke's talking about, you get the sense that people paid attention at least to what he's saying. again these two sides very much deadlocked. the president saying he is not going to support speaker boehner's plan which is the two-pronged approach saying he will veto it if it comes across his desk. and saying he doesn't think the senate will pass speaker boehner's plan. then you have senator mcconnell coming out today saying he does support the plan. >> you mentioned the president doesn't support boehner's plan. he didn't say that he would veto it. are you hearing anything about his ligness to veto it if boehner's plan makes it on his december snk. >> his omission of the word veto is raising a lot of eyebrows today. white house officials insist that he will veto speaker boehner's plan if it comes across his desk. we're really getting down to the wire here, contessa. it's getting 4rd to see how this is going to be worked out.

you have two plan it's not clear that either of them will pass through both chambers. >> i know you both are having a busy day still in store for you. thank you very much for joining us today. my big question will pressure from constituents motivate lawmakers to compromise? you can reach me with your thoughts on this. let me know if you called your lawmaker. i want to know what you had to say. you can get me on facebook and twitter. in the meanwhile, we know that the gap is growing now between both sides of the aisle. representative barbara lee a democrat from california, robert stutzman from indiana. what's been the response to your office? >> it's been very, very busy. we've been hearing a lot of calls from folks across the district and people are very concerned about what's going to happen in washington over the next couple of hours.

>> at this point, congresswoman, you've just joined me as well, are you getting an incredible amount of response? are you hearing from your constituents any message that differs from what you've heard in the weeks leading up to the president's speech last night? >> i have heard from my constituents for quite a while now in saying let's do this. let's do it quickly. we need a balanced preach -- approach. which means we need to have tax revenues if we look at how to bring down the deficit. my website is down. it's crashed. people are continue toeg tell me that they want to make sure that first of all we just raise the debt ceiling, secondly, because if we don't we know the consequences of it. we need balanced approach. we need revenues. we do not need to cut social security, medicare and medicaid. what's what my stunts have been saying for months. >> it seems the agreement that both of you might be willing to make is something needs to be done. yet, how to get there is such a

wide divide. here are the senate leaders, republican and democratic on the senate floor today. let me play it. >> everything republicans have demanded wrapped up in a bow and delivered to their door. now republicans say their demands which have been met in full aren't enough. >> it was deeply irresponsible in my view for the president of the united states to present the american people with a false choice between tax hikes and default on the other. >> congressman, do you think this is an unbridgeable gap? >> it feels like it at times, but it can't be. we do have to focus on growing the economy. we should be focussing on raising revenue through growing the economy and getting people back to work. that's what should be the priority here. but unfortunately the president i believe continues to talk about tax increases rather than about jobs and the economy. we have to get back to what we can control here in washington and that is the cut, cap balance approach of having a balanced

wugt just like every american family and small business owner does across the country. >> i'll point out in terms of cutting taxes or keeping taxes low we've been under the bush era tax cuts for a number of years now and still have seen unemployment skyrocket. congresswoman lee, you handed out a news release yesterday that said the current so-called debt crisis has been completely manufactured by house republicans attempting to advance an extreme agenda. just last night president obama painted this as a crisis. he blamed both parties not just republicans in a hole. in what way do you think this was manufactured by the gop? >> if republicans would vote for a debt ceiling bill, if they would vote to increase the debt ceiling there would be no crisis. this is a fact. the debt ceiling has been raised many, many times under republican presidents, that's what we need to do. if we don't do that yes, we're in the midst of a crisis, this crisis did not have to happen if

we had voted for raising the debt ceiling. >> do you think that kind of rhetoric is what widens the gap that had you standing on one side and the congressman standing all the way on the other? >> listen, we have to come to some agreement on this. we all agree that the debt ceiling must be raised. we cannot take the country to the brink. and let me tell you, when we talk about a balanced approach, we're talking about raising revenues as well as some deficit reduction measures that involve spending cuts. some of these spending cuts i think we can agree with, some we can't. i cannot agree with cutting social security, medicaid or medicare. that is just wrong. >> congressman, stutzman let me ask you about this divide between the rich and poor. the stick point for republicans has been the unwillingness to support any additional revenue. no expiration of those bush tax cuts. no more money from oil companies. you said it yourself let's focus on job growth instead of raising more revenue in the form of taxes. you describe yourself as a

homegrown farm kid, does that make sense for you to cut for the nation's most vulnerable without asking the wealthy for a little more? >> well, i don't believe that we should be asking those. my grandmother, those who are counting on medicare and social security to take any cuts. that's not what the republican plan is. the republican plan says if you are 54 and below you will see a change in your programs, but for those who are 55 and above, those are protected. you will be protected while you are in social security and medicare. that's the republican plan. let's remember this, too, that when there was just a simple debt ceiling vote in the house, there was bipartisan support in opposition. so everybody in the house -- the majority in the house is saying we can't just raise the debt ceiling without any changes to our spending habits. that's why we're focussing on spending controls and spending cuts. >> the two of you standing right there next to each other perhaps

when the cameras are off you can make some good headway in coming to an agreement and compromise. i hope that works for you. >> you cannot tinker around the edges with medicare, medicaid and social security. that's a nonstarter. or senior citizens and future generations. >> congresswoman, there seems to be a lot of nonstarters on both sides of the aisle. i appreciate your time. the confessed norway terrorist claims he's linked with a right wing british group. the head of that group is now speaking out. he says it illustrates the growing anger in europe against muslim immigrants. the group's leader says he doesn't condone the mass killing but he didn't deny the possibility that his group had contact with the man. he's confessed to last week's brutal bombing and shooting spree that killed at least 76 people. nbc's jay gray has the latest live in oslo. where does the norweigian investigation stand, jay? >> reporter: well they're continuing -- good to talk to you, contessa, to look into

sleeper cells as they've been called. the potential that they were involved perhaps in the planning of these attacks. they still contend that they were carried out single hand idly. that is the direction they're looking right now. police under a bit of fire for the slow response time here. the justice minister says there will be questions asked now is not the time to do that. >> -- to start a war here in europe and throughout the western world. he's sorry that it was necessary, but it was necessary. >> reporter: again, that is his attorney who was talking today about his motivation in this. while people are frustrated here, obviously they are more concerned with the victims and the emotion that is running through this city and this country right now. hundreds continue to come down to the square in front of the main cathedral carrying flowers and candles. some staying for just a few minutes, others for hours here. again you continue to see people

in tears. you continue to see people consoling one another. what they tell me is there seems to be a strength in numbers. so they need to be here and be together right now. >> wow, that memorial has just grown day-by-day. jay, thank you. if convicted he would be housed in one of the kushiest prisons in the world, one of the most humane. "time" magazine says private cells look like a posh doorm room many with flat screen televisions and mini fridge ratetors. some prisoners have their own bathroom. prisoners are encouraged to exercise in state of the arm gyms with personal trainers and union cycle classes. some prisons boost rock classes and inmates can record their music in professional recording stewed yoes. we have some breaking news coming in to us right now from oregon. representative david wu has said he will resign from congress.

it's been a rocky road for congressman wu. as recently as just yesterday the day before he insisted he would finish out his term that we would not run again for re-election. in this case the accusations of a teenager who was of age, but still a teenager who said he forced on her in an aggressive way some unwanted sexual advances has now come back to haunt him. he now says he will resign. we'll get into this ahead with karen finny who's here. gives us more on this. friends and family of aim kwi winehouse said good-bye to the troubled singer at a private service in north london today. amy's father, mitch, delivered the eulogy. he called his daughter an angel and said she's happier now than she's ever been. the autopsy yesterday did not determine the exact cause of death. police expect the results from a toxicology report in as many as four weeks. we're hearing from the teens who were mauled by a grizzly bear and her cub in alaska.

plus, happy and healthy. a fast food restaurant makes a big change on its menu. but first, the debt divide is having its way on the dow. it's down 59 points on the day. still, the gridlock in washington is concerning u.s. lawmakers. looks like the s&p is off by two looks like the s&p is off by two points and the nasdaq up 3 1/3. honey, i can't walk any faster. [ female announcer ] oscar mayer deli fresh turkey comes in a clear pack... [ cellphone beeps ] [ jeff ] ooh. thanks hun! [ female announcer ] ...so the freshness you see is what you taste. ♪ it doesn't get better than this ♪

and form a layer called biofilm so strong it survives brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula penetrates biofilm, kills germs and protects your mouth for hours. fight biofilm with listerine®. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full.

i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did.

[ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. [ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. . police may have found the remains of missing north carolina mom. acreson's exboyfriend and his wife have been arrested and charged with her murder. they were involved in a bitter custody fight over their two young children. authorities allege the couple killed the 27-year-old mother

and dumped her body in a creek outside houston, texas. an employee at the new orleans international airport was injured when a passenger's gun accidentally went off. the man was checking in his hunting rifle when the bullet hit the counter and a piece struck an airline employee many the leg. he was issued a misdemeanor summons for negligent injury. a new ruling today in the case of a georgia woman whose 4-year-old son was fatally hit by a van. we talked to raquel nelson yesterday. she was facing time for vehicular homicide because she had jaywalked with her young son when he was hit and killed. now the judge has offered her a new trial. if she doesn't want one, she'll be sentenced to 12 months of probation. a group of teens in alaska are describing the terrifying moment they came face-to-face with an angry grizzly. the bear came charging at them, mauled four of them more frightening was the seven hours they had to wait to be rescued.

miguel, what's the story? >> reporter: two of those seven remain hospitalized here. they're said obe in good and fair condition. they were in serious condition yesterday. the group was on a month long survival expedition for out in the wilderness for about 30 days. they were on day 24. it was their first day alone without the supervision of adults. they were crossing a river bed. there were seven of the teenagers lined up in single file. the lead teenager was yelling out to scare away any animals just as they were trained to do when they say suddenly they came upon the grizzly and her cub. the bear lunged to the person in front of the line. a 17-year-old boy was mauled. the bear turned over to the second person in line. that person was mauled. the bear turned back to the original person and continued its attack. in all four people were mauled. here's how the survivors

describe what happened. >> everybody was in disarray. everybody seemed to have an injury. >> just the chaos and disbelief and just the confusion that was going on really was overwhelming to handle. the screaming that i could hear from my friends and the growls from the bear which were loud and deep and then the screamings were just helpless screaming. i can still hear it in my head. >> reporter: believe it or not, survivors say the worst of the attack wasn't behind them. as you mentioned after this attack they were able to scare away the grizzly bear and the cub. they say they had to wait up to nine hours before a medical helicopter could arrive and take away the most seriously wounded. they were airlifted here to alaska, one of the survivors had a broken rib, the other a collapsed lung. some very serious conditions. they were upgraded overnight into fair and good condition. they're recovering today. all seven of these teenagers some who have already headed

home say they are lucky to be alive. >> my gel, thank you for gsh miguel, thank you for the report from alaska. a shocking new survey about a widening wealth gap between whites and minorities. why things are getting worse? plus angry birds it's not just a video game, it's going to be a movie. teachers use it to teach physics and the company that makes it is hoping for even bigger crowds. ds

from body and bath shops? with olay get what you love at half the price with new olay body collections, tantalizing fragrances and olay moisturizing ingredients that transform lathering into lavishing. olay body collections. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together,

there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. plus the choice of every etf, 5-star research, and unmatched trading tools. there's price. there's value. don't confuse the two. e-trade. investing unleashed.

don't confuse the two. naturals from delicious, real ingredients with no artificial flavors or preservatives. naturals from purina cat chow. share a better life. our girl's an architect. our boy's a genius. we are awesome parents! biddly-boop. [ male announcer ] if you find a lower rate on a room you've booked, we won't just match it. we'll give you $50 towards your next trip. [ gnome ] it's go time. you know one of the problems with robbing a liquor store? where do you hide the loot? a couple of women came up with an unusual idea and it was caught on camera. a surveillance tape shows women sticking champagne bottles up their skirts. the owner say that was expensive stuff. it's not the first time the

store has been struck. a group of women stole liquor in their clothes their last year as well. here's the competitors of the cliff diving world series plunging into italy's lake from a platform almost 90 feet high. the reigning champ took gold with his triple quad. it's a triple back somersault with four twists. the divers have three seconds of free fall to pull off their midair aerobics or acrobatics as the case may be before they hit the water. we have some breaking news right now. representative david wu of oregon says he will indeidre sign from congress. he says his kids must come first. more on that with karen just ahead. plus, americans are mad as held over the inability to reach a deal over the debt ceiling. they're not going to take it anymore. they're going to twitter and venting there. some of what they're saying, well, it's really not

appropriate for young children. hot on the web today and once again i see a theme developing, it's party time. excellent. forget about party hook ups, college kids don't have to leave their dorms. a new survey from the university of rhode island shows four out of five students have sex it's ted sent racy messages back in forth. one in five say they have forwarded explicit messages to others. note to the supposedly smarty pant students, look what happened to anthony weiner. >> be excellent to each other. and party on, dudes! so much for "bill and ted's excellent adventure." the party's over for time travel. hong kong physicists say they prove it's impossible. it's no the physical laws of the universe prohibit it. the proof, a single foe on the cannot move faster than the

speed of light. all right. somebody tell steven hawking it's time to update his book, how to build a time machine. it's also time to update your impression of 40-year-old women. "usa today" point out as gen xor's move into their middle years, 40 is the new 20. these women are living it up. they're inviting girlfriends on fabulous vacations. you know what makes 40 better than 20, you can afford that plastic surgery. my doctor told me calcium is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs.

citracal. for the efficient absorption my body needs. host: could switching to geico reon car insurance? or more host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

welcome back to msnbc, i'm contessa brewer. new home sales fell 1% last month. more evidence of a struggling housing market. the posal service is considering closing more than 3600 local offices. right now they operate about 31,000. the struggling agency lost $8

billion bucks last year. rod blagojevich wants another retrial. he filed a moment in court yesterday citing instances of alleged judicial bias and error. he was convicted on corruption charge last month. mcdonald's is making its happy meals healthier. it will include a half order of apples and a half order of fries. the fast food restaurant plans to cut calories, too. 4,000 faa workers are on furlough right now because congress hasn't been able to reach an agreement on the budget. the dispute is over $16 million for small airports. nbc has confirmed that an oregon congressman will resign over a growing sex scandal involving a teenage girl. democratic leader nancy pelosi had called for an ethics investigation into representative david wu. a newspaper reported late last week wu had a quote unwanted and aggressive sexual encounter with the 18-year-old daughter of a family friend.

so far that young woman has not pressed charges over the nv incident. karen is an msnbc political analyst. this is just the latest in a number of high lig publicized events plaguing him. >> that's right. remember this is the same guy who was sending around pictures of himself in a tiger costume and sent some bizarre emails to different members on his staff and then claimed they were wrun by his children. there's been some odd behavior. there was some concerns that perhaps he had a drinking problem or some other issue. it's not surprising. all of us when we first heard him say he wasn't going to resign, it's a matter of time. >> the interesting thing is when some of the other bizarre stories came out, he said i was on painkillers given to me by a campaign contributor. which raised then even more questions. >> absolutely. look, this day and age as we learn with anthony weiner and time and again, these kinds of scandals particularly in this

day and age where everything that's knowable is knowable and can be online, pictures can recollect you name it. it's really hard to hold on to your seat when this kind of stuff is out there. >> here's part of the statement that just came in from congressman wu, quote, i cannot care for my family the way i wish while serving in congress and fighting these serious allegations. the well being of my children must come before anything else. with great sadness i intend to resign effective on the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis. >> looks like he could be there a while. >> exactly. >> when we're talking about what this does for the democrats they just had a high profile resignation of anthony weiner and the scanical there and now congressman wu. was nancy pelosi in between a hard and a rock place when it came to investigating it? >> i don't think so. from what i heard it was pretty clear again given the past behavior that this was a situation where it was important for him to resign. i think he came under a lot of pressure over the weekend. so i'm not surprised to hear that he's going to resign.

obviously his vote is helpful and helpful on this debt ceiling. his district has traditionally been democratic. it is starting to turn republican. another seat that could be in play. >> we'll be watching that and who is named then to replace him in the interim until the next election. a popular blogger got frustrated about congress failing to reach a budget deal and his foul mouthed rant has turned into a social media revolution. on saturday jeff jarvis tweeted, in some places i'm paraphrasing, hey washington, a holes it's our country, our economy, our money stop messing with it. he then suggested the chant blank you, washington. okay, put the f word in the place of blank. it's been tweeted and retweeted. reportedly at the rate of 20,000 tweets an hour. and thus a hash tag was born. "the washington post" editorial

writer joins me. i'm being inundated with twitter response about the debt ceiling about how they can't get past the impasse. almost one out of three that pops up has that hash tag in there with the quote blank you, washington. >> right. the one thing about this which i find very surprising why is it that jeff jarvis is the one who's that spark that has ignited the tweets now sent around the world when just looking at my own, the people i follow and the people who follow the people i follow and the twitter feed that i see, you know, what he says seems to actually be a lot of what the conversation is. the level of anger and frustration at -- directed at washington and with washington the inaction has been rising. not getting less. so jeff just tapped into something and is now the face of something that's been out there for a long time.

>> the tracking site topsy said that this phrase has been used already 66,000 times after jarvis' original message. i think that's grown. here's an example. why do we allow children to run the country. let's get responsible folks in washington, and then you're using the hash tag mark. stop defining party lines and do what we elected you to do. make this country great once again. don't fall for obama's b.s. he's the clozest neocon. why all the anger? it reminds me of "network" where people are saying we're mad at hell and we're not going to take it anymore. this is the modern day social networking version. >> first it was facebook status updates and now twitter to tell people exactly what's on their mind. in this day and age where everyone feels they have a vested interest in what's happening here in washington on the on capitol hill, they feel like this is the best way to let their views be known and if that

means being as raw as possible, then so be it. >> is this only politically active people who are tweeting about this topic? do you think that the average person who's out there i don't know watching jt judge juddy" or mtv during the day is invested in what's happening with the debt ceiling? >> i think so. i've been writing about debt ceiling a lot since march. when i was writing about these things i would notice that my debt ceiling pieces would get very little attention. that's changed within the last three weeks. people are paying attention and paying attention very, very closely. you know, when the president said last night to contact your members of congress and have your voice be heard, the twitter just blew up with people sending the phone numbers of speaker boehner and majority leader cantor and others so that their voices can be heard. it's still happening today. >> good to see you. >> contessa, one more thing. i bring you greet frgs the people of louisville and ren and

travis send you their very best. >> they're going to love that you just mentioned them. i did an event there last year. johnthan did it this year talking about gay rights. thank you for passing that along. >> sure. we've been talking online today about all this anger the response to the gridlock in wash. some of you even said you're on your way to rally at your representative's offices. will the outpouring from voters push lawmakers to a compromise. todd hesz said they don't care what we think. according to harold co-hick, the first thing lawmakers are issued when they get to washington is a set of ear plugs that they don't hear the common citizens. this person says, i've been trying to get through to my congressman since the president spoke. yant get through. i wanted to tell them to compromise, go with the president's plan. i want to hear from you and boy has this just blown up. i'm getting a lot of responses today on my twitter account as

well about the debt ceiling gridlock. the gap in congress over the debt ceiling is really a gap between rich and poor. who deserves a break and who doesn't. now a new study shows the actual wealth gap in this country has reached staggering proportions. census data from 2009 came up with some sobering statistics. the median wealth of white households $113,000. for hispanics, $6,300. for blacks $5,600. that heens the median wealth ratio of whites to blacks 20-1. whites to hispanics 18-1. in 1995 that ratio was 7-1 for both groups. in 198412-1. carmen ulrick is a personal finance expert the author of the "the real cost of living." we're heading in the wrong direction. >> i don't want to say this is shocking once you see the culprit as to why the huge, huge drops in wealth. >> why?

>> really this has a lot to do with the housing market because disappropriation natalee hispanics and african-americans are tied to their wealth to the housing market. so we've seen their wealth go down 66% for hispanics, 5 % for african-americans and they tend to be of course localized especially hispanics and asians who lost 54% of their wealth over the past four years in california on the west coast on florida, nevada, where the housing market took huge, huge cuts. 2/3 of hispanic wealth has been in the housing market. which is very, very dangerous place to be. >> it seems a lot of people went wholeheartedly into the subprime mortgage mess where they would to you you only have to have the interest for your payment. you don't have to pay anything on your principal or for five years an incredible interest rate. >> a lot of people did. i'm a member of these communities this is why i do

what i do because financial education in this country specifically for poor no matter what ethnicity or race has to happen. the reason why housing is the form of wealth for minority communities because this is what is taught in the community. this is what the known in the community as access to the american dream. i've always said this is erroneous thinking white americans tend to be brought up and raised with money in the stock market and in the house. diversified assets. it doesn't happen in minority communities as much. it's a huge problem that was taken advantage of of course, during the boom. >> we're looking at 1995 when that ratio was the lowest here 7-1. were there certain tools that were being used to encourage blacks and hispanics to invest other than their house or the housing market was good then and it didn't matter. >> the housing matter was fantastic. there's tremendous access to credit as well. we have a tradition of what builds wealth within communities. there's the idea that the home is the place to go.

buying a home has been the place to do that. unfortunately that was taken advantage of in terms of the bubble. it was easy, easy access to credit. there has been to be financial education within minority community it's not just about wages and government. it's about knowing how to build wealth. >> i might suggest financial education for everyone starting in junior high. >> this is why i do what i do and i will always do it. >> carmen, good to see you, thank you. is he going to run or not? texas governor rick perry is still putting it off for a little while. and yet, already he's getting support in a key primary state. plus it seems like everybody is playing angry birds. and that's exactly what these game makers want. more on that ahead.

man: be kind to your eyes with transitions lenses. transitions adapt to changing light so you see your whole day comfortably and conveniently while protecting your eyes from the sun. ask your eyecare professional which transitions lenses are right for you. woman: discover the protection, comfort and convenience of transitions lenses for the entire family at transitions.com/walmart or visit a walmart vision center today. and those people are what i like to call wrong. take metamucil. sure it helps you keep regular, but it doesn't stop there. metamucil is the only leading fiber supplement with psyllium, which gels to help remove waste and reduce cholesterol.

it can multi-multitask. it's so 2012. look at it! it's doing over a million different things right now. metamucil. ask more of your fiber. ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ ting! ] [ male announcer ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage or visit travelers.com.

on every surface in your mouth. but did you know those same germs can build up and form a resilient layer called biofilm? biofilm germs are strong enough to survive daily brushing. thankfully, there's listerine® antiseptic. its triple-action formula goes deep to penetrate biofilm, kill germs and protect your mouth for up to 12 hours. aaaahhhh... [ male announcer ] for a deeper clean, fight biofilm with listerine®.

a new harvard study suggests another risk from second-hand smoke. children exposed to second-hand smoke are 50% more likely to develop a knew row behavior yal disorder like adhd. the study does not prove smeking causes behavior problems but shows an associate is likely. the republican presidential candidates are weighing in on the capitol hill debt fight via twitter. politico reports mitt romney's tweet about the president's speech last night. romney writes an historic failure of leadership from barack obama. not even senator reid is still trauking about tax increase. romney's main focus is defending his record on jobs. john harwood cnbc's chief washington correspondent and political write for "the new york times" getting an inside look today he's at the romney headquarters in new hampshire. give me a sense of where romney stands on raising the debt

ceiling? >> mitt romney's making the argument -- by the way i was in new hampshire earlier. in boston now which is where his national headquarters are. i was at his national state headquarters earlier. mitt romney's position on the debt ceiling has been consistent with his entire campaign. he's keeping a low profile. he's trying to be very cautious about it. he says the debt ceiling should be raised in tandem with spending cuts. the tweet that you mentioned tarts president obama. he's not looking to draw distinctions with other republicans. he's got to lead in the polls nationally and in new hampshire and he's being very cautious about trying to protect it by being as -- having a no error strategy so far. >> i understand mitt romney is going to washington, d.c. he's going to have -- or may be there right now the lawyers for romney luncheon fundraiser. there are a lot of lawyer jokes that could be made there. how important is fundraising at

this point in the campaign? >> it's very important. romney raised $18 million in the second quarter. that was much lower than many people expected him to raise. reflects the difficult fundraising environment. he was a lot more than other republicans. tim pawlenty and others who are his competitors. we're still waiting to hear whether rick perry of texas who could be a heavy weight financially in this race where he gets in. when the race is fully formed, when jon huntsman is wrapping up his campaign in new hampshire, when rick perry when he gets in the race if in fact he does and we start seeing the television ads and whether mitt romney can take attacks from others which will include in the intro his on opponents are going to argue he was not so effective as governor of massachusetts in creating jobs. rick perry's going to say he's got a much better record on that score. mitt romney has to see if he can take a punch. >> john, thanks.

side bar now, it's all about iowa. and rick perry is looking more like a candidate. politico reports even though perry's still not officially in the race he already has ad support. grow pac says it will air radio ads for perry as a write in candidate. perry did not make the cut on the official ames straw poll ballot because he didn't di claire. also in iowa a battle between the minnesota twins. also known as bachmann and paw electee. here's pawlenty going after bachmann yesterday. >> she a she has a record for saying things. there's a big difference between talking about things and getting them done. >> a reminder the straw poll threeing weeks away. new jersey governor chris christie insists he's not running, but he couldn't resist a trip to iowa. he could however resist

endorsing one of the current candidates. when asked about the field, christie said if i believed that someone has distinguished themselves in the way on the issues that i care about, that i feel enthusiastic enough to endorse them, i will. i'm not a halfway kind of guy. if i'm going to get in and support someone, i'm going to do it 100%. christie may be looking at 2016. let's head to the white house and the daily press briefing with jay carney has already begun. what do you think the big topic is? debt ceiling. >> has exercised all the wiggle room available to him. and that runs out on august 2nd. that's not a guess. it's not a political opinion. it is the judgment of career analysts at the treasury department. beyond that date we lose our capacity to borrow. we give up our borrowing authority without action by congress. and the result of that risks default for the united states for the fist time in our history.

as we face the reality that we take in only 60 cents for every dollar we owe. that's not a situation that we believe will happen, and it is certainly a situation that should not happen. >> the president said last friday that he was already talking to secretary geithner in terms of the consequences in there's default. you just reiterated you don't think it will come to that. is if government in fact already game planning what would happen if the default happens communicating that to other leaders in the states, is there anything you can share with the american people? >> as you've heard the treasury secretary say every president and every treasury secretary republicans and democrat haves taken a hard look at this issue and reached the same conclusion discussing your question about august 2nd. there are no more measures that can be taken. of course, the treasury is having discussions with omb, with the fed to work through how

we would manage this impossible situation. this impossible position. but it is important to state again that we do not believe that we will get there. we take the leaders of congress at their word that they agree with the president. that it is unthinkable and unacceptable for the united states to -- for the first time in its history default on its obligations and that action will be taken by congress to ensure that does not happen. time is running out. so while we remain confident, we are also -- we also understand some of the anxiety out there because we are pushing this to the last minute. that should not be the case but in the end we believe congress will act appropriately. >> one more, please, there have been many times when a bill's been proposed and the white house has said that should that legislation get to the president's desk he would veto it even before it goes through congress. if speaker boehner's bill or a republican bill made to it the

desk would the president veto it? >> as you know the white house chief of staff addressed that explicitly on sunday. >> that was before the boehner bill was unveiled. it wasn't in direct connection. >> i'm not -- that position hasn't changed. it is however, moot. because as the president made clear last night we're in the stalemate. the speaker's proposal cannot pass the senate. will not pass the senate. will not reach the president's desk. this is the problem we have. we need congress to produce something that is a compromise and therefore can get support from democrats and republicans in both houses. and reach the president's desk and meet the president's approval. that's why we need compromise. the president, you know, spoke in detail about why compromise is essential and why there is an mad ral and long history of republicans and democrats with strong disagreements and differences of opinion and idealogical differences in the

past coming together and finding compromise on tough issues. president reagan did it with democratic speaker tip o'neill. president clinton did it with newt gingrich. this president did it with republican leaders in december. it can be done again and it must be. i would note that the speaker of the house in his address last night that followed the president never mentioned the word compromise and yet that is the only alternative. we have a divided government. we have a two-party system. no party controls every branch of government. compromise is the only option. and we will hopefully get there. >> no chance it passes the senate? >> that's our -- we do not believe it will pass the senate. senator reid, i believe said today on the floor that it will not pass the senate. he is the majority leader. has a pretty good feel for the place. we certainly strongly feel that it is not a bipartisan compromise measure.

and that it is -- it is in many ways a back door way to get cut, cap and balance or the ryan budget things that they couldn't get through the front door and make law because the american people don't support it in through the back door. that's just not acceptable. now is the time to compromise. it's for democrats to give, for republicans to give, to reach a solution that's not ideal for anyone except for the country. not ideal for a political party, but the right thing for the country. the president has demonstrated his willingness to do that repeatedly in public and in private. he's got skin in the game. he's made clear that he will make compromises. he came this close in negotiations with the speaker of the house in great detail making clear the kinds of decisions that are tough and the kinds of decision that he would need to persuade democrats to accept in other words to reach a compromise. because he believes it's the right thing to do.

yes? >> another opportunity for the white house to put a pressure on especially republican house members to reach a compromise to get a deal done and in the words of the press secretary, jay carney, to keep our country at its full borrowing power. he says the experts have warned the white house that the country will lose its borrowing power if the debt little expires on august 2nd. that wraps up this hour for me. i'm contessa brewer. see you back here tomorrow noon eastern. just one until the 2012 summer olympics in london, we'll get a preview of that. up next "andrea mitchell reports." andrea? hi, conna. thanks so much. up next on "andrea mitchell reports," war of words and no compromise. the latest from the white house with budget director jack lou and the congressional battle front with senator bob corker from the republicans and democratic congressman john larson. plus are the markets shrugging it all off? we're on the case and anita mcbride from the bush foundation on international efforts to

empower women especially afghan women. "andrea mitchell reports" up next right here on msnbc. ♪ [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why would you let something like erectile dysfunction get in your way? isn't it time you talked to your doctor about viagra? 20 million men already have. with every age comes responsibility. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. see if america's most prescribed ed treatment

is right for you.